Russian Tea Cakes

There’s no feeling quite as blissful as your first bite of one of these cookies. Whether you call them Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies or plain old snowballs, there’s no denying that the one word to best describe them is “delicious.” This tea cookie recipe is a breeze to make and a delight to share and enjoy.MORE+LESS-

Expert Tips

Tea cakes are rich, crumbly, and a style of bite-size shortbread. Short doughs refer to tender cookies and pastries that are influenced by the ratio of fat and flour.

Vary the texture and flavor by playing with different nuts. Macadamia, cashew, hazelnut, pecans or black walnuts are lovely choices, especially if toasted and finely ground before mixing into the dough.

Similar cookies are called snowballs or a version that’s filled with rich pine nuts is called Mexican wedding cakes.

This dough doesn’t spread during baking, so arrange them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Like shortbread they don’t brown; they’re done when firm to the touch.

Nutrition Information

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving

Calories

75

Calories from Fat

45

% Daily Value

Total Fat

5 g

Saturated Fat

1 g

Cholesterol

0mg

Sodium

55 mg

Potassium

15 mg

Total Carbohydrate

6 g

Dietary Fiber

0g

Protein

1 g

% Daily Value*:

Vitamin A

4%

4%

Vitamin C

0%

0%

Calcium

0%

0%

Iron

2%

2%

Exchanges:

1/2 Starch; 1 Fat;

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

There’s no denying the tactile joy of maneuvering your lips around a dusting of powdered sugar to reach the melt-in-your-mouth center of these tea cookies. The powdery, sweet residue is just one of the signatures of this snowball-shaped treat. Because they’re made with real butter and chopped nuts, these cookies have a melting texture and a distinctively rich taste. In addition to being known as Russian tea cookies, they’re also called Mexican, Italian or Swedish wedding cookies, Austrian kipferin, butterballs and snowballs. No matter what they’re named, these tea cookies are all prepared in basically the same way, being rolled in powdered sugar while still warm, then coated again once they’ve cooled off a bit. Heat up a samovar (or just a regular teapot), brew some of your favorite tea, and have an old-fashioned tea party with these classic treats. If you’d like to try some variations on the snowball theme, check out Betty’s best snowball cookies collection.